Guardians
by Dark VoidLich
Summary: The UAC accidentally opens portals to Hell when experimenting in teleportation. They also open portals to a parallel dimension where humanity fights alien zealots to survive and Master Chief dives into Hell with the Corporal (Doomguy) to find the legendary Soul Cube. rated M for language, blood & gore.
1. Chapter 1: Fall of Reach

CHAPTER ONE: Fall of Reach

The planet Reach is dying, as massive alien warships descend upon it, purple cruisers with cannons that let out streams of white hot bluish plasma that lash across the surface of the planet, turning the rock and dirt into hot, lifeless glass.

A soldier in a gray suit of power armor drops one knee to the ground, still firing his rifle fiercely at the sleek, predatory aliens known as "Elites" that are slowly cornering him in the swirling, spark-filled dust. A shot of plasma clips the side of his angular helmet, and his visor cracks, obscuring his vision. Without hesitation, he presses the bottom of his helmet and it pops off with a soft hiss, and drops to the ground. He continues to fire at the Elites, and looks off to the left as a massive gray ship begins to take off. A cryo chamber shoots out from a machine in the ground, containing another soldier in dark green power armor. The chamber loads into the ship, and then it blasts off completely, piercing the atmosphere and disappears into the flaming, orange sky.

The gray-armored super soldier sighs. His mission is finally over… the _Pillar of Autumn_ has safely escaped. He continues to fire, killing an Elite. Two more appear from the dust, blasting at him with plasma rifles, another shot hitting him this time in the chest. He lunges at them and kills one with his rifle, blasting through its body with a splash of violet blood. The other drops its plasma weapon, and approaches the soldier with a small, white-hot plasma dagger but he guns it down. An Elite wearing dark red and blue armor lunges at him from behind with a crackling, two pronged plasma sword. He sidesteps and dodges the stab, but another Elite officer in white armor appears and knocks into him with a spiked elbow, sending him sprawling onto his back. He draws a pistol as the sword-wielding Elite draws nearer, pointing the tips of the blade at him.

Today, his helmet still lies there in the dust, shattered. As soon as the _Pillar of Autumn_ had left Reach, he had been ready to die. Now he could meet his brothers and sisters again.


	2. Chapter 2: Wolves Chase Sheep

**CHAPTER TWO: Wolves chase Sheep**

The "_Pillar of Autumn_" flies through the black void of space away from the dying planet and jumps into a slip-space portal, warping itself far away from the violent invasion.

Master Chief John-117 wakes up in a large, metal cryo tube blinking as he looks around the gray room full of technology, gray metallic sliding doors leading out to the ship's hallways. He wears a dark green suit of power armor over a black under suit, the orange visor on his helmet obscuring his face completely; two small armor extensions placed above the visor shade it slightly. He steps out of the cryo-chamber, standing seven feet and two inches tall and looks up at a small room full of control panels separated from the cryo-stasis room by a thick, bluish glass panel.

A voice sounds over the intercom: "Good mornin, sunshine!"

A timid engineer in an orange jumpsuit stands next to him, barley coming up to the towering super soldiers lower chest. "H-hello, Master Chief sir. Should you take a moment to recompose after being in cryo sleep? You must have freezer burn from wearing that armor in the cryo chamber!"

John starts to shake his head, and an intercom sounds out from the control deck above as an older sounding engineer speaks again. "He isn't affected by cryo-sleep like normal humans, dingbat. Spartans are the toughest bastards out there, it'd take a lot more than a little cryo-stasis to slow this motherfucker down!"

All soldiers did not share this positive attitude. Many normal humans exiled and feared Spartans, and Spartans themselves felt awkward and removed from normal society. There was a long, quiet pause.

The man from behind the glass spoke again on the intercom. "Hey chief, Captain Keyes wants you on the front deck immed-" The voice is cut off by a loud explosion, and fire suddenly erupts behind the glass, heating it so it glows bright red and begins to distort. The man inside screams and is quickly scorched to a black skeleton.

John feels the adrenaline start to come into his blood. The engineer who had let John out of cryo-sleep wails and runs over to a door, which slides open, and he dashes into the hallway screaming and waving his arms. John follows, outstretching a huge armored hand, "Wait! It isn't safe! The Covenant-"

Another plume of flame erupts through the hallway, and a shockwave smacks into the engineer, sending him flying like a rag doll through the air.

"Damn!" John runs to the doorway and looks through, as an emergency alarm starts to sound. The doors leading to the control deck are smashed in and half-melted, and flames dance all around them. He leaps across the hallway and ducks under a large pipe, into another hallway. He takes a right and sees a few marines firing assault rifles at a group of five and a half foot tall aliens, four of them, with blue skin and large, triangular yellow apparatuses on their backs with tubes that hook into small gas masks around their faces. These were referred to as "Grunts" by the military.

John sprints through the hallway, and into the room. He runs at a Grunt and kicks it hard, sending it flying into the others. They squeal as plasma shots are fired widely into the air. Diving forward, he pulls a combat knife from a holster on his hip and plants it into the first Grunt's head, while simultaneously grabbing its plasma pistol. He fires a volley of plasma shots at two of the grunts while strafing to the right and slashing the fourth grunts throat.

The Marines cheer and raise their arms. A door slides open and another Marine pops out. "Master Chief! I've been looking for you. Follow me, I'll take you to the control deck."


	3. Chapter 3: Mars City

**Chapter Three: Mars City**

In a different dimension entirely, a spaceship is blasting toward the Red Planet Mars, which now has a massive military complex built across it. Originally sent to turn Mars into a second Earth by oxygenating its atmosphere, scientists quickly discovered ancient Martian technology beneath the surface, and the project to make Mars inhabitable was put on hold and the planet became a mass military archeological site.

The ship stops over a large building. Bay doors open and ten thrusters on the ship turn straight down, and the ship hovers in place. The thrusters slowly become weaker, as the ship begins to descend to a landing pad inside. The doors slowly shut above with a loud metal clash.

As the ship lands, a Marine steps out. He's a Corporal, very serious with a strong sense of right and wrong, a calm but stern face and dark hair, cut very short.

Two men step out behind him; one is bald one top, with black hair around the sides. He wears sunglasses and a black suit and tie. Accompanying him is a man with a buzz cut and military armor, carrying an immense silver suitcase. The suited man, whose name is Elliot Swan, walks to a heavily built door and scans a card to the control panel, and it slides open. The man with the silver briefcase follows him, and turns to the Corporal. "Go report to Sergeant Kelly."

The Corporal nods and walks straight onto a huge elevator platform and pulls the lever, and it descends down through a massive metal tunnel.

After going through a security checkpoint a security officer opens a large glass case, holding a suit of power armor four times as durable as normal security armor. He puts it on, and goes into the bathroom briefly. When he exits the stall, he thinks how he likes the way the power armor feels, as if his body is lighter. He walks out and all the way up to the Sergeants headquarters. He is standing in front of a complex computer terminal, in power armor with hair cropped super short. He gives the Corporal a hard look. If looks could kill, the corporal's brains would be splattered all over the wall.

"You took your sweet time getting here. But since it's your first day on the job, I don't expect you to know the bases layout. Just don't start slacking off, or I'll assign you to the Solid Waste Facility."

The Corporal salutes, "No need to worry, sir. I only want to get the job done."

Kelly almost smiles, but his expression remains deathly serious. "Good to hear. Your first assignment is to locate and return Dr. Jonathan Ishii, who was spotted going down into the Mars City Underground and through the airlock _alone _into the old communications array."

He hands the Corporal a pistol and a couple mags, which he clips to his belt, raising his eyebrow as if to ask why the hell he needed a gun for such a simple mission.

The Sergeants voice is grim. "Just in case. Strange reports have been coming in lately; the closer to the Delta Labs the more disturbing the reports. All I can say is, more than one random acts of violence have occurred."

Nodding the Corporal walks down a few dark, gray hallways into the Mars City Underground. He passes by many scientists and a few security guards, and rounds a corner, when suddenly… "WHAM!"

A piece of metal grating on the wall covering pipes and wires pops off the wall on flies across the hallway, smacking into the wall opposite. Upon closer inspection, the Corporal notices a busted pipeline is the culprit. But what busted it?

"Dangerous…" He thought as he continued to walk down the hallway toward the airlock, guarded by a sleeping security officer. "And this idiot, sleeping on the job! No wonder that scientist was able to get through."


	4. Chapter 4: The Devil's Cage

**Chapter Four: The Devil's Cage**

Swan sits at a table in front of a computer terminal, staring at the dark reflection of his white face contrasting with his black sunglasses and suit. Suddenly the screen lights up and an ugly, pale face appears, a bald man with one eye grayed over in blindness. He wears a greenish blue lab coat and a smug sneer. "Well if it isn't the militaries top bloodsucking lawyer Swan, and his bodyguard Jack Campbell."

Swan looks hard at the screen, and Campbell touches the silver suitcase.

Dr. Betruger sneers on the small grainy terminal screen. "The technology I'm developing is even greater than what you have in that suitcase there, Campbell."

Swan speaks in a clear, deep voice. "People are dying, Betruger. The UAC is taking control of this project from now on. You will still be allowed to operate but only under the heaviest of supervision. This is for everyone's safety, of course."

Betrugers ugly sneer is undying. "I will handle it, Swan."

Swans deep, smooth voice raises in anger. "Betruger, this project _is _being taken over by the UAC, and that's that! What do you not understand about this?"

The terminal shuts off.

Meanwhile, the Corporal has reached the old communications center that was last seen at. He steps through the sliding metal door and sees a large panel of screens, with multiple communications programs being run by an Asian doctor, medium height with short black hair and a panicked face.

He looks back and is startled by the Corporal. "NO! You have to let me send this distress message! Just trust me… the Devil is real. I created his cage."

Suddenly the screens switch to security camera views. The center screen shows the Delta Labs new teleportation device, which is activating.

Dr. Ishiis mouth drops open. "Shit! No! I need to send it!"

Suddenly there is a burst of red energy and a cackling, evil voice rings out throughout the Mars City base. Ghostly demonic skulls fly out of it and seem to spread across every area on camera. All over the base, scientists and security guards alike are possessed and turned into pale, bloody mouthed zombies.

A ghostly skull flies out of the screen and straight into Dr. Ishiis body. His eyes and mouth begin to drip blood and his skin goes paper white. His fingers crack and curl into claws, and he lunges at the Corporal.

He draws his pistol and puts a couple bullets right in former Ishiis head, who falls to the ground with a splatter of blood. "Jesus… what the hell is going on here? He said something about the Devil? And those images on the security screens… could they be real?" The screens return to normal. He sees the message Ishii was trying to send to Earth, it reads: "A teleportation device backfiring would be undesirable in consequence, as anyone within the backfire radius will not survive the experience. Portals to random dimensions are beginning to open constantly when the devices malfunction." A small picture is attached of the Delta Labs, where there is a portal open in the middle of a room. The photograph has captured a clear picture of another dimension, where there is a strange, frosty chamber containing what looks like a seven foot tall soldier in thick plated, green armor.

"A soldier from another dimension? This is getting to be too much…" He presses the send button, like Ishii had been trying to do. A video suddenly pops up of zombies in the Underground ganging up on a scientist and biting into his neck, spraying blood with a sick, crunching noise. The video disappears and the screen just reads: "Message failed to send."

"Well that's just great…" The Corporal leaves the room and runs back through the airlocks to the Underground. His PDA's radio comes on, static at first and then deep, warped voices telling each other locations. "Mars Underground. Airlock _crshhhhhchhh…."_

"What the hell…" He looks around and notices the guard that had been sleeping there is gone. Hearing a loud noise he turns quickly to the left and sees the guard popping out from behind a large crate, touching its helmet and speaking in that deep, gargling voice. "Found him!"

The zombie guard raises its gun and begins to fire. The Corporal ducks into a nook in the metal walls. He pops out and fires into the zombies visor, cracking it. After two shots to the face it falls to the ground and he walks over cautiously, and kicks it slightly. Spotting the assault rifle it dropped, he picks it up and pulls a few clips off the zombies belt and attached them to his own then continues down to the hallway. A zombie in a lab coat swinging a wrench comes out of the hallway and the Corporal shoots it in the head with his pistol, and the pallid, bloody former scientist falls to the ground.

As he rounds the corners up the stairs again to get back up to HQ, more zombies lunge at him from the shadows. He mows them down with his rifle and suddenly a panel on the ceiling is smashed through and a green, humanoid creature with claws and bulbous red eyes drops through and onto the floor. It hisses with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and holds out a clawed hand, forming a crackling fireball and then lobs it like a baseball pitcher at the Corporal. He dives to the side and rolls, firing half a clip into the creature's neck and face before it finally goes down. As its body falls, it dissolves into orange flecks that dissipate into the air, like burning sparks from a flame.

"What the fuck is going on…" The Corporal continues up the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5: The Holy Covenant

**Chapter Five: The Holy Covenant**

The Chief arrives on the control deck of the _Pillar of Autumn_, large windows show miles of star speckled space, and they pass by a gas planet streaked with green and purple clouds, covered in raging hurricanes and oceans of toxic liquid. An older man with light gray hair and a white military uniform is waiting by the computer terminal, listening to a purple female hologram who was projecting out of a small console.

"The Covenant followed us, and now of course they are trying to board the ship… and look who finally showed up."

John walks up to the console and gazes at the purple, digital woman.

"Hello, Chief. Glad too see you, I…" She trails off, looking at the ceiling.

Captain Keyes looks concerned, "What's going on Cortana? … Cortana!"

She is silent for a few more tension-filled moments. Opening her purple eyes, she looks quickly at John. "Multiple space-time anomalies detected! Oh my god… whoever is responsible for this…"

Captain Keyes narrows his eyes, "The Covenant?"

Cortana shakes her head furiously, "No way! The Covenant use advanced Slipspace technology, but this is more like… random holes being torn in the space-time continuum!"

The stoic John finally speaks, "If not the Covenant, then who? Are there other aliens, maybe ones on our side?"

Cortana practically snorts. "Not even close. It's other _humans…_ I'm tapping into some radio waves, very faint…"

John feels tense. "Cortana…" The ship is rocked as plasma bolts hit the ship.

"I'm sorry! It's such a massive amount of information… The transmissions are from a parallel dimension in which humans were first trying to colonize Mars. They found… Martian artifacts and started to build research centers there… from what I gather, they are trying to imitate Martian teleportation technology but are losing control of it… oh my god!"

The ship is rocked again and flames appear briefly by the glass.

John speaks again, his voice loud and clear through the vents in his helmet. "Cortana!"

"I'm sorry, chief! But these fools have literally stumbled onto… _Hell._ Those teleporters work just like when we enter Slipspace, but their version of Slipspace is full of horrifying, powerful entities…" she stares into space, looking almost dreamy, "I wonder if it used to be that way in our dimension..."

Keyes pounds his fist into his hand. "That's some damn crazy intel. But we need to focus on escaping these Covenant ships."

Cortana nods, "I suggest the ringworld below us. It's obviously artificial, but very advanced. Not likely to have been made by humans, or Covenant…"

John presses the console and Cortana is put into a small chip, which he pops into the back of his helmet. Cortana uploads to his HUD, and shows him which direction to go. "It's been a while, Chief."

"Yeah."

Keyes hands John a pistol and he follows Cortanas directions, picking up a dead marines assault rifle and a few clips. Using magnetic panels on the back of his armor, he sticks the assault rifle to his back and picks up a dead grunt's plasma pistol. An Elite in blue armor, with a sleek pointed back head comes around the corner and John holds the plasma pistols trigger, causing it to charge then releases the huge whitish green bolt at the alien. It hisses as its energy shields crack and dissipate, and John tackles it down and plunges his knife into its head, taking the creatures plasma rifle as he runs down the hallway.

Suddenly a red burst of energy appears from nowhere, crackling through the air like fire burning through paper. Cortana speaks quickly in Johns helmet, "It's a portal! Careful!"

Her warning is in vain as John feels the floor beneath him disappear and he begins to fall into a tight, fleshy tube. Behind him the _Pillar of Autumn _seems to be frozen in time, a Marine and an Elite with plasma bolts and bullets inches from their faces. He squeezes through the suffocating, slimy tunnel at incredible speed as deep, satanic laughter rings out all around him, complimented by tortured screams.


End file.
